Last Kiss
by ThoseWhoWander98
Summary: I never thought we'd have a last kiss, never imagined we'd end like this...


**A/N: Prequel to "Perfection"**

LAST KISS

_I still remember the look on your face_

_Lit through the darkness at one fifty-eight_

_Words that you whisper for just us to know_

_You told me you loved me, so why did you go away?_

Annabeth still stood, shocked.

Percy. Gone. Her mind could barely wrap around it. Gone? Percy couldn't be gone, he was like... like the sea itself, always there, always waiting.

But now he was dead, gone.

Annabeth barely felt Nico rest a hand gently on her shoulder, barely heard him say "I'm sorry." Her mind felt numb. Her insides were cold. And her heart was in unbearable, excruciating pain.

She sank to the ground. The day had started like any other, with Annabeth ticking off another day on the calendar for when Percy would return from "demigod hunting", or finding new half bloods. The sun shining. The sky blue. The sea hitting the shore.

Annabeth could remember everything she had felt the moment she heard Nico's words: "He's gone."

Shock, pain, fear, sadness, shock, anger, weakness, despair.

Annabeth couldn't make herself cry. Her soul was too dry without the boy who had always been her ocean.

_I do recall now, the smell of the rain_

_Fresh on the pavement, I ran off the plane_

_That July ninth, the beat of your heart_

_It jumps through your shirt, I can still feel your arms_

The day before the quest, when she had returned from her father's. The day she had cherished. The day of their last kiss.

Annabeth felt her shoulders go weak. Her knees felt like water. And her whole body was limp and dull. She didn't have the strength or will to stand any more.

Annabeth felt Nico put his arms around her, but that only made her long for Percy's arms, long for what she could no longer have. She didn't want comfort from one of Percy's good friends, it only brought back painful memories that she didn't want to see.

Annabeth could not imagine life without her Percy. She couldn't imagine not dancing with him quietly in his cabin with no music, couldn't imagine never walking down the beach with him again. She couldn't picture herself with any other boy, couldn't see herself kissing anyone else, because she and Percy fit together perfectly, and no one else would ever heal her the way he did, ever keep down her temper. Percy made her better.

And now he was gone.

Every time she re-made the realization, waves of pain rushed across Annabeth's heart.

She could imagine him in Elysium, and wondered if he was missing her as much as she was missing him.

_I'll go sit on the floor wearing your clothes_

_All that I know is I don't know_

_How to be something you miss_

_I never thought we'd have a last kiss_

_Never imagined we'd end like this_

_Your name, forever the name on my lips_

What if he forgot her completely? What if she died and went to Elysium and met him and he hated her, or, worse, maybe, forgot her? What if he stopped loving her when he died?

Annabeth shook the thoughts from her mind. She had to hope he'd be waiting for her. She had to have faith in him.

But it's so hard to have faith when life takes away your everything, Annabeth thought.

Numbly, she stood, and walked slowly down the hill. To Percy's cabin. Nico had the good sense not to follow.

When she reached the cabin, the tears started flowing. Everything was as he'd left it. Empty Coke bottles, scattered clothes, sneakers, and ball caps, a meagre seashell collection he'd started and never finished...

Annabeth collapsed onto his bed. The sheets still smelled of salt water. Still smelled of him.

Annabeth knew then, that she was broken. Something inside of her had snapped and now she would never be the same. Some string that held her together... gone. And the only thing holding her together was knowing that one day, she'd die too, and she could see her Percy again.

_I do remember the swing in your step_

_Life of the party, you're showing off again_

_And I roll my eyes and you pull me in_

_I'm not much for dancing, but for you I did_

Painful memories of parties, them alone, times he'd kissed her, danced with her, comforted her, laughed with her, smiled with her, teased her, helped her, playfully hit her, even became angry with her, came flooding back. Annabeth tried to close her mind, but they kept coming.

Annabeth reached out her hand for the sleep medicine on the bedside table. Sleep medicine he'd used to avoid the nightmares. She poured two pills into her hand and downed them, because she couldn't stand to be with her own consciousness any longer.

Finally, the merciful sleep took over and her mind went black, blocking out the pain, at least for a little while.

_Because I love your handshake meeting my father_

_Love how you walk with your hands in your pockets_

_How you kissed me when was in the middle of saying something_

_There's not a day I don't miss those rude interruptions_

When Annabeth woke, Nico was sitting on the floor. He patted the floor beside him. Reluctantly, Annabeth sat.

"If you need to cry, I have a shoulder."

Annabeth ignored the offer, and pulled in her knees, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"He's in Elysium, you know."

Annabeth nodded.

"I never thought... how did it happen, Nico? How did my Percy die?" Annabeth had to know.

" It was dumb really. We could have avoided the attack if we had just been a little faster... it was a Cyclops, Annabeth."

The truth hurt. It stung like bees, burned like fire, seared like acid, throbbed like falling, smarted like a cut, it felt like a steamroller, a bus, a minivan, all running over her limp body at once. It made her want to scream, cry, howl, collapse.

Instead, she just let her head fall onto Nico's shoulder, and let the tears fall. Nico. Who'd have thought that the weak, disturbed twelve year old boy would become her shoulder to cry on?

Annabeth finally let the thoughts of Percy flow. NO matter how much it hurt, she wanted to think of him, to have the memories that brought him closer to her.

_And I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep_

_And I'll feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe_

_And I'll keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are_

_I hope it's nice where you are..._

Percy.

The sea.

Her sea.

Her Percy.

Her everything.

_And I hope the sun shines and it's a beautiful day_

_And something reminds you, you wish you had stayed_

_You can plan on a change in the weather and time_

_But I never planned on God changing his mind..._

_I never thought we'd have a last kiss._


End file.
